Robert Anderson, Jr. Named Intelligence Division Special Agent in Charge for FBI Washington Field Office

May 6, 2010 - Director Robert S. Mueller, III has appointed Robert Anderson, Jr. special agent in charge (SAC) for the Intelligence Division in the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO). Most recently, Mr. Anderson served as chief of the Counterespionage Section in the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters.

Mr. Anderson entered on duty as a special agent with the FBI in April 1995. Upon completion of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to WFO, where he investigated narcotic violations and violent crimes. In 1997, he was transferred to the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), where he served as an assaulter and ran the HRT international medical program. During his tenure on the HRT, he was deployed to more than 20 countries and war zones, including Kosovo, Macedonia, Georgia, Pakistan, and Yemen.

In 2001, Mr. Anderson was promoted to a supervisory position in the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters, with oversight responsibility for counterintelligence and espionage investigations. During his tenure, he coordinated several major espionage investigations involving the Department of Energy's (DOE) nuclear weapons laboratories. Mr. Anderson also managed the FBI’s number one counterintelligence priority—the placement of special agents in DOE laboratories.

In 2003, Mr. Anderson was promoted to unit chief in the Counterintelligence Division, responsible for the management of nuclear proliferation and espionage investigations. He supervised the Phillip Cheng investigation in the San Francisco Division, which led to the subsequent opening of 23 full field investigations in seven divisions and the arrests of 16 individuals for dual use technology transfers.

In 2004, Mr. Anderson was promoted to supervisor of a Global Foreign Counterintelligence Squad at WFO. He was reassigned to one of WFO’s major overseas espionage squads in 2005, where he oversaw one of the largest foreign espionage cases in the FBI.

Mr. Anderson was promoted to assistant special agent in charge for WFO’s Counterespionage Branch in 2007. During that time, he also served as acting SAC for WFO’s Counterintelligence Division for three months.

In 2008, he was promoted to chief of the Counterespionage Section in the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters. Mr. Anderson was in charge of the espionage investigation of Harold James Nicholson and Nathan Nicholson and their arrest in 2009. In early 2009, he was detailed for a month to the Albuquerque Division as acting SAC.

Mr. Anderson began his law enforcement career in 1987, when he became a Delaware state trooper. After graduating from the Delaware State Police Academy, he served in the Uniform Patrol Division, Criminal Investigative Unit, and the Aviation Section. He was cross-trained as a commercial pilot and nationally registered paramedic. He was named the Delaware State Police Trooper of the Year in 1990 for attempting to rescue trapped subjects in a burning residence in 1989. This is the highest honor given by the Delaware State Police.